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Nature 438, 903-906 (15 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/438903a; Published online 14 December 2005

Natural disasters: The chaos to come

Quirin Schiermeier1

  1. Quirin Schiermeier is Nature's German correspondent.
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Natural disasters have wreaked havoc on the planet in the past twelve months, and some say that things will only get worse. Quirin Schiermeier assesses the world's growing vulnerability to catastrophe.

In sheer numbers, the death toll of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and cyclones is small — 80,000 in an average year. Even the recent spate of catastrophes ranks surprisingly low among the scourges of humanity.

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